Steelers Sign UMass DB Bryce Watts as UDFA

The Pittsburgh Steelers have agreed to sign Massachusetts cornerback Bryce Watts as an undrafted free agent following the conclusion of the draft on Saturday.

Watts entered the draft despite being a redshirt junior and still having one year of college eligibility left. The 6-foot, 180-pound cornerback is from Toms River, New Jersey and went to Toms River North High School.

Watts moved around a lot while in college. He originally went to Virginia Tech from 2017-18 and started at cornerback in 2018 while appearing in all games as a freshman on special teams or a defensive back replacement in 2017. He then transferred to the University of North Carolina prior to the 2019 season, but sat out that year due to the NCAA’s transfer policy at the time. He later found himself at UMass prior to the 2021 season.

He only had one interception while at UMass and that came against Connecticut on Oct. 9. He had 43 tackles last season, with a high of seven coming against Toledo on Oct. 2.

Similar to the offensive line, the secondary had been a position of need heading into the offseason that the Steelers have instead chosen to address through free agency. Watts and fellows cornerback Chris Steele from USC and Tavin Harville from Robert Morris were both signed as UDFAs on Saturday.

Prior to that, the team had signed Levi Wallace from the Buffalo Bills to add to their corner back depth. The team also re-signed corner back Akhello Witherspoon, safety Miles Killebrew and safety Terrell Edmunds to new contracts.

Wallace, Witherspoon and Cam Sutton are expected to be the team’s starting corners, with Arthur Maulet, James Pierre and Justin Layne providing depth.